Secret Six Reading List

Date: 2025-07-11 | Topic: Reading List | Characters: Secret Six | Scope: 2005-Present

You might have seen that Nicole Maines is writing a new mini series right now (on #3 as of writing this) and be interested in reading it, but confused on what is going on. That's where I come in, here is a full reading list for the Secret Six (the team that has existed in some form since 2005's Villains United, not the team from the 60s, which is completely different)

Pre-Villains United: 1950-2005

Villains United is generally a fairly beginner-friendly comic that doesn't expect you to have too much context leading into it so this section can be largely ignored if you want to jump right into the Secret Six stuff. The team featured in Villains United consists of Thomas Blake | Catman, Jade Nguyen | Cheshire, Floyd Lawton | Deadshot, Ghkeyy't | Parademon, Peter Merkel, Jr. | Rag Doll, and Scandal Savage. Luckily, Villains United is half of their first appearances, so there's not actually a lot you need to get caught up on. While characters like Deadshot and Cheshire have a longer history before Villains United, you don't really need to have a particularly deep grasp of either of them to enjoy Villains United. For a more in-depth reading check out the pre-Villains United sections of Thomas Blake, Floyd Lawton, and Jade Nguyen's reading lists. Otherwise, the below issues are adequate preperation.

Green Arrow: The Archer's Quest

-Green Arrow (2001) #16/17, #20

Deadshot: Urban Renewal

-Deadshot (2005) #1-5

Villains United

Villains United is a tie-in to the massive DC crossover event Infinite Crisis. Being a Crisis, Infinite Crisis is huge and 99% of it does not feature the Secret Six, so I will not be including it in this reading list. Events of Infinite Crisis are mentioned in Villains United, but if I included all of the Infinite Crisis tie-ins in this reading list, there would be more issues for that than there would be for the actual Six themselves. An Infinite Crisis issue list is available here on League of Comic Geeks.

Villains United

-Villains United #1-6
-Villains United: Infinite Crisis Special #1

Secret Six (2006)

There's nothing to read between Villains United and Secret Six (2006) as the Infinite Crisis special leads directly into the first Secret Six mini just a month later. The Secret Six (2006) team consists of Scandal Savage, Floyd Lawton | Deadshot, Thomas Blake | Catman, Peter Merkel, Jr | Rag Doll, Kay | Knockout, and Jervis Tetch | Mad Hatter. Out of the two new additions, Kay is the only one who will remain relevant to the Six after this series concludes. She was primarily a supporting character in Superboy (1994), which you can find a list of issues for in the pre-Secret Six section of Kay's reading list, but you do not need any of this background information to understand Secret Six (2006). Mad Hatter is never a true member of the Six so I have omitted him from this reading guide.

Secret Six: Six Degrees of Devastation

-Secret Six (2006) #1-6

Pre-Secret Six (2008): 2007-2008

Between the 2006 mini and the 2008 ongoing, the Secret Six are mainly featured in the Birds of Prey (1998) storyline "Whitewater", which was also written by Gail Simone and is essential reading for understanding the first arc of the 2008 series.

Birds of Prey: Whitewater

-Birds of Prey (1998) #104-109

Detective Comics: Honor Among Thieves

-Detective Comics (1937) #837

Secret Six (2008)

This is where the meat of the Secret Six team lies. This team consists of Scandal Savage, Floyd Lawton | Deadshot, Peter Merkel, Jr | Rag Doll, Thomas Blake | Catman, Jeannette, Bane, Lori Zechlin | Black Alice, and Nanaue | King Shark. Jeannette's first appearance is in Secret Six (2008) #3, but Bane, Lori, and Nanaue's pre-Secret Six comics can be found in their reading lists.

Secret Six: Unhinged

-Secret Six (2008) #1-7

-Secret Six (2008) #8/9

Secret Six: Depths

-Secret Six (2008) #10-14

-Secret Six (2008) #15/16

Darkest Night: Danse Macabre

-Suicide Squad (1987) #67
-Secret Six (2008) #17/18

Secret Six: Cats in the Cradle

-Secret Six (2008) #19-22

-Secret Six (2008) #23/24

Secret Six: The Reptile Brain

-Secret Six (2008) #25-28

Secret Six + Action Comics Tie-In

-Action Comics (1938) #895
-Action Comics (1938) #896
-Secret Six (2008) #29

Secret Six VS Doom Patrol: Suicide Roulette

-Secret Six (2008) #30
-Doom Patrol (2009) #19

Secret Six: The Darkest House

-Secret Six (2008) #31-33

-Secret Six (2008) #34

Secret Six: Caution to the Wind

-Secret Six (2008) #35/36

Secret Six (2014)

The Secret Six in The New52 was... weird. The only characters who returned to the main roster for this series are Catman and Black Alice. Rag Doll, Scandal, Knockout, and Jeannette appear scarcely, and the continuity seems to have reset, with the original Six members never having met each other. This series has an almost entirely new line-up, and seems to have been retconned out of existence after Rebirth. As it is no longer canon, this series is entirely optional, but it's still written by Simone and is an overall fun read. The line-up for this comic includes Lori Zechlin | Black Alice, Thomas Blake | Catman, Ralph Dibny | Big Shot (Elongated Man), Kani/Kevin | Porcelain, Mary Turner | Strix, and Shauna Belzer | Ventriloquist. Kani was invented for this book, but Ralph, Mary, and Shauna all have histories prior to this that can be viewed on their individual reading lists.

Secret Six (2014) #1-14

Pre-Secret Six (2025)

There's a lot going on in Secret Six (2025), it introduces three new characters to the mix: Jon Kent | Superman, Jay Nakamura | Gossamer, and Nia Nal | Dreamer, and unlike with the previous Secret Six comics, their comic histories are vital to understanding the events of this mini series. Secret Six (2025) also brings back Lori Zechlin | Black Alice, Thomas Blake | Catman, and Floyd Lawton | Deadshot. All of these characters (except for Thomas, he wasn't in anything but specials and one-offs since the 2014 series ended) have comics prior to this series which can be read about on their respective reading list pages, for the sake of brevity I have only included the comics essential to understanding Secret Six (2025).

Full credit for this section of the reading list goes to @Chaa on League of Comic Geeks, their list was invaluable to me while reading up for Secret Six (2025) and the list below is essentially just a shorter version of the one they made. If you want a more comprehensive readthrough definitely check their list out (they also have other equally as helpful reading lists on their profile).

Suicide Squad (2019)

-Suicide Squad (2019) #1-5
-The Flash (2016) Annual #3
-Suicide Squad (2019) #6-11

Superman: Son of Kal-El

-Superman: Son of Kal-El #1-5
-Superman: Son of Kal-El Annual #1
-Superman: Son of Kal-El #7/8
-Nightwing (2016) #89
-Superman: Son of Kal-El #9-18

Task Force Z (Only the Deadshot parts, you might want to read the whole series for clarity)

-Task Force Z #2-5, #11/12

Suicide Squad: Dream Team

-Suicide Squad: Dream Team #1-4

Absolute Power

-Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1
-Absolute Power #1-3
-Absolute Power: Super Son #1
-Absolute Power #4

Secret Six (2025)

This takes us to the present day, at the time of writing the final issue of this series is about to be released and that's all we know about the future of this team for now. I hope you found this list useful and I will continue to update it as these characters (hopefully) continue to get new comics.

-Secret Six (2025) #1-6

Other Stuff That Didn't Fit Anywhere

This is Secret Six specific comics that didn't have any easy place for me to put it in the main list. None of these are required reading.

-Convergence: Wonder Woman #2, Story 2 "Divergence: Secret Six"

-DC's Batman Smells, Robin Laid an Egg #1, Story 2 "Secret Santa"